Foster Farms again resumes production at Livingston poultry plant

Company had voluntarily ceased operations until it was certain most effective treatment protocols were in place at poultry plant

Foster Farms resumed operations at its Livingston, Calif., poultry plant and called all of its plant employees back to work on the morning of January 22. The Foster Farms poultry plant had been closed since January 12, when the company voluntarily put Livingston operations on hold.

The Livingston poultry plant had initially been ordered by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to suspend operations on January 8 after five occasions where a cockroach was found. After Foster Farms carried out sanitization and treatment measures, FSIS gave Foster Farms approval to reopen the plant on January 11. However, Foster Farms voluntarily shut down the Livingston plant again on January 12 to dedicate additional time to ensuring its preventative plan was fully realized with the most effective treatment protocols in place.

Production was temporarily shifted to Foster Farms' other facilities in California during this time as Foster Farms brought full attention to implementing its USDA-FSIS-approved preventative plan in Livingston. With all employees now back to work, Foster Farms expects to add weekend shifts and provide overtime to hourly plant employees in the coming weeks.

"Although this has been a challenging time, we remain committed to the highest level of quality and food safety through all aspects of our plant operations and will emerge a stronger company," Foster Farms President Ron Foster said.